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In an interview with website Modern Farmer he said his soil tastes 'actually like the Earth itself.'

'Man didn't create the sea, the air or the soil. They're simply all part of nature, and in a sense they are alive in their own right,' said Tanabe. 'What I'm trying to do is reflect that feeling in food.'

A professional bantamweight boxer in his youth, Tanabe turned his hand to cooking in his twenties and left to train in France.

Popularity: His long interest in soil cuisine culminated in a feast that has been growing in populairty with his customers, starting with an amuse bouche of soil soup and ending with a soil sorbet

Dining out: A diner samples a dish from Toshio Tanabe's soil menu

Vision: For the last 20 years he has run a French restaurant in downtown Tokyo, and over the last eight has been slowly introducing his customers to samples of soil-inspired cuisine

IS IT DANGEROUS TO EAT SOIL?

In 2011 research emerged that suggests eating mud or clay could actually be good for the stomach.

Dining on dirt, or geophagy, is common among many cultures and has been reported in almost every country in the world.

Now more than 480 cultural accounts of the practice — by missionaries, plantation doctors and explorers — have been analysed by researchers at Cornell University in New York.

While no one is suggesting that mud should be the new fad diet, the study, in The Quarterly Review of Biology, found the most plausible explanation for geophagy could be that earth acts as a shield against ingested parasites and plant toxins.

People may also crave dirt because it provides nutrients they lack such as iron, zinc, or calcium, the research found.

For the last 20 years he has run a French restaurant in downtown Tokyo, and over the last eight has been slowly introducing his customers to samples of soil-inspired cuisine.

At first, though, the search for a clean and chemical-free main ingredient was tough work.

'I had to go all over the place to find soil, into the mountains and places like that. Places where there was no farming,' he said. 'Then of course I had to dig it up from deep under the ground.'

'I buy 20 kilograms a month from Kanuma in Tochigi prefecture. I use black soil for most dishes and white soil — normally used for bonsai plants — for lighter food. The soil is taken from 10 miles underground and checked in a lab for impurities — pollution, contamination, lead. So it is already very safe when I buy it. Soil is a pure living thing, a collection of microorganisms. Anything bad about it, pollution or radiation contamination, is generally caused by humans,' he told Modern Farmer.

After the dirt arrives, he lightly cooks it to release the flavour, then runs it through a sieve to remove any stray grains of sand.

The six-course soil extravaganza starts with an amuse bouche of soil soup, served with the merest fleck of dirt-engrained truffle, and ends with soil sorbet and a sweet dirt gratin.

But Tanabe's pride and joy is the 'soil surprise,' a dirt-covered potato ball with a truffle center.

The feast is not especially cheap, running to 10,000 yen ($110, £69) a diner.

Many are surprised by the unusual dining experience.

'It was my first time to have soup made from soil,' said Hiromi Fujie, a nearby resident. 'It was a bit gritty but not at all unpleasant, a little like vegetable soup. I liked it.'

If Tanabe is to be believed, it's healthy too. He says his soil aids the digestion and is full of healthy minerals.

'Humans used to eat soil, back in the day,' he said, though he had to ruefully acknowledge that not all customers are fans.

'Animals eat is as well, so I suppose there's this impression that soil's a bit too dirty to eat. We do have some customers who completely avoid it.'

Research released in 2011 suggests that eating mud or clay could actually be good for the stomach.

Dining on dirt, or geophagy, is common among many cultures and has been reported in almost every country in the world.

Now more than 480 cultural accounts of the practice — by missionaries, plantation doctors and explorers — have been analysed by researchers at Cornell University in New York.